Our Walk in Purity

Well, good morning church. Is can I just ask a question? Is anybody excited to be in the house of the Lord this morning? Come on. Come on. We got to celebrate that. Next said, "This is the day that the Lord has made." Right? And if you turn to your left, to your right, there's more than two or three people in this room. And what that means is that God's presence, his spirit is in this place. Amen. So, I want to if if we haven't met yet, my name is Danny Ortiz and I'm one of the pastors here at South Sub. And usually you'd see me up here singing. So, if I get nervous, I will just break out into song if I lose my place. So, just go along with me. Uh, but I just want to I want to tell you a story this morning. So, I want you to imagine this. I want you to imagine that your favorite NBA team just missed the playoffs, right? And you know, it's the off season and this is usually when teams are, you know, doing analytics and scouting and restructuring contracts, right? Whatever it is, but they want to get the edge, right? They they want to they know that next year they want to be contenders, right? They don't want to miss the playoffs. They don't want to be the eighth seat. The team, they want to go all in. They want to be number one in the conference. They want the highest seat going into the playoffs. But to do this, they know that they need to make a splash this off seasonason. And what they do is they say, "You know what? We're going to go after the MVP of the league." Like, it's either go big or go home. Like, we're going to we're going to go out there. We're going to talk to the MVP. We're going to try to get him to come to our team because you know what? It seems like interest in the city is a little low. The buzz around the team is not where it should be. and we want to show the league that we're serious, that we're coming for it this year. So, what they do is they go after, they start talking to the MVP, they talk to his agent, they're like, "Hey, what do we need to do to get you to come here? What's the salary you need? What are the performance bonuses we need? What number do you want?" Right? Whatever it is, every little detail, they want to make sure that this player feels wanted, that he wants to be a part of this team because they know if we get this guy, man, there's going to be a buzz around this city. our team, our identity is totally going to change. So then the contract is done. Everything's done. He signs, right? He has his jersey. So now it's time for the press conference, right? And and all the reporters are in the room and he's saying all the right things. He's holding up his jersey. He signs that contract. But now, you know what? It's summer league ball time. So it's time to play. It's time to get in the game. So then, as you can see, right, all the players are coming in. The fans are out. They're excited. They're taking pictures. The press is out like they've never been before. You can feel that there's something different in the air about this season. And then comes the MVP, right? He's walking up in his nice suit, tracksuits, whatever it is. He's walking into the arena, confident, smiling for the cameras, right? Taking photos. And the buzz is everywhere. I mean, as you drive by on the highway, there's pictures of him in the New Jersey on the side of the freeway. The arena has totally been transformed all over his social media, ESPN, whatever it is. They can't even stop talking about this team because they're like, "Man, these guys are favorites to win at all this year." So, then comes the interesting time. So, now it's time to practice, right? All the players are coming out warming up and stretching, doing everything that they got to do. And then comes out the MVP. But there's something different about him, right? All right. As he's walking out, he doesn't have the new team's jersey on, but he has his old team's jersey on, his old shoes, his old number, right? Everything that he's wearing is representing the team that he used to play for, not the team that he's on anymore, right? And the coach walks up to him, he's like, "Hey, dude, like what are you doing? You don't you don't play for them anymore. Like, you signed a contract with us. You're part of this team. This is your new family. this is, you know, identity. This is where you're supposed to be. And how funny would it be if the player just turned to him and said, "Well, you know what? That jersey color, they just fit these shoes better. They made my eyes pop. I don't know. I don't know if I'm ready to even play by your playbook yet." Or, you know, I don't know if this is the right feel for me, right? How absurd would that be? And that's kind of what we're going to talk about this morning is what I love is that you know we've been doing this series in Ephesians and this week particularly uh the Apostle Paul he's talking to the church in Ephesus and he's reminding them and telling them and urging them that they have found a new identity in Christ right that this is who they are now that this is what they're supposed how they're supposed to live that this is a new team that they are on right they are they are now on team Jesus they are no longer on team world. So, would you just bow your heads with me and we're going to pray this morning. Father, you are here in this room. Father, you are good. You are sovereign over all. Lord, I I pray that you would open our hearts, our minds. Father, I pray that you would speak through me for Lord, I pray that whatever need there is in this room, Father, we've we've come to the right hands become we've come to the Father's house. Father, you are here. Lord, we love you. We thank you. I pray that whatever is happening right now, Lord, I pray that you would calm, that you would silence noise, Father, that you would just put peace in our hearts. And Father, would we know more about you today? And everyone said, "Amen." So, if you have your Bibles this morning, we're going to be reading from Ephesians 4, chapter 17, and it's also going to be on the screen. So, Ephesians 4:17, it says this. says, "So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking." Says, "They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity. and they are full of greed. That however is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor. For we are all members of one body. If in your anger, do not sin. Do not let do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. And do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unh wholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling, and slander along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. And everyone said, "Amen." Here's our fir first point this morning. It is embrace the new team's jersey. Right? Embrace the new team's jersey. Right? Not like this player that showed up to his camp wearing his old stuff. God wants us to embrace what he has for us. And and one of the things that I really find curious is that verse 17 says this. It says, "You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds." You know, if you're like me, well, what does that word even? What's futility? What does that even mean? Right? And here's what it means. It simply means when something is pointless or useless. So he's saying don't walk the way that they do. Right? The Gentiles. In other words, those who are separate from God, right? Those who live a life of sin, those who don't honor what God wants to do, those who have give themselves over to to greed and malice and anything that everything that is contrary to the life that God has called us and wants us to live. Right? He's saying they're blind in their understanding. They don't know what they're doing. But you know what? Can I just be honest with you? Sometimes it just seems like the world can have a little more fun than we do as believers, right? It can seem like maybe whatever is is separate from God. Sometimes, man, it even looks like it's entertaining, right? It looks like it can it can be fun. It looks like it can even fill some type of of void that people may have. But let me just tell you this. Whatever they're filling, right, it's it's temporary, right? It might be there for a second, for two, for five, and then after that it's it's totally gone, right? It's pointless. It has no lasting effect on what they need, right? And what Paul's saying is that he's talking specifically to these new believers, right? I like to think of them as spiritual infants, right? And what that means is these are people that have just decided to give their life to Christ, right? These are people that are are brand new, that are walking with team Jesus, right? They're brand new to faith. They might not even know what it means to gather on a Sunday morning or or be in a small group or read their Bible or pray, right? Every single practice that we have as believers, right, for them it might be brand new. They might just be figuring out what it means to have a relationship with God. And here Paul comes and he's telling them, you know, that life that you used to live, that life is gone, right? That life is is no more. that life that once maybe you walked in that your family has walked in. Maybe you just did that yesterday. That that life is totally gone. This is your new identity. This is your this is where you are supposed to be now. And so I kind of thought about it. You know, what was their life like? What do they live? What do they do? What was their environment like? And here's one thing I want you to write down. It's you become a product of your environment. I'm going say that again. You become a product of your environment, right? Wherever you are, wherever you've lived, it has shaped you in some way or another to who you are today. So, I kind of started to think, you know, what what was their life like before knowing who Jesus was? What were some of the things that were going on around their neighborhood, their city, right? Wherever they were. And here's what I found out. One of them was uh the worship of Artemis. It says the most prominent tradition was the worship of the goddess Artemis whose massive temple was a world famous landmark and a central hub for religious, financial and social life in Ephesus. Another thing that was common was animal sacrifice. It says ritual animal sacrifices were a common practice during religious ceremonies and festivals particularly to honor Artemis. And another thing that they had was oultism. So it says Ephesus was known as a center for magical practices and oult religions with beliefs in the power of sorcery and astrology. So think of that. You know, for many of these people, I kind of think of maybe they were doing these things just last week or yesterday, right? Or a month before, or maybe even the people in their household, they're still doing this, right? Believing in other gods, worshiping other gods, practicing different things. And and here Paul comes to them and he's saying, you know, that life that maybe I don't know, maybe the people in your own household are living or your neighbors or your friends or your co-workers or maybe even you yourself were doing this just yesterday, but it's like that life that you had, that life is gone, right? I want you to turn around. I want you to walk with Jesus. I want you to truly be a part of what he wants to do in you. Right? Think about that for a second. And you know, one thing that I even think about as well is if we were to just stop for a moment in this room and just share about, you know, what my life was like before I met Jesus, what your life was like was like before you met Jesus, you know, we would have so many things to say about what God has done in our lives. But here's one thing that I think is so important for us to remember this morning is that living a life with Jesus, it's not just about saying yes to him. It's about being transformed by him. Because you see, I can say yes to you right now and I can go on living the life that I'm living right now. I can say yes. I'm a believer of Jesus and I live for him. And guess what? The rest of the week my life looks totally different than it does today. Right? But he's not saying that. He's saying that life is gone. Allow God to transform your life today. And here's the second point for us this morning. And it says this. simply just get rid of the old team's jersey. Right? Get rid of the old team's jersey. In verse 22, it says, "You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires." Right? What he's saying is that why that may have been your past life, he's like, "Take that off. That's no longer who you are." Right? you're not on that team anymore. That life doesn't identify you. You know, whatever many people have maybe called you before, whatever you did, whatever your name was, right? That life is totally gone. And then Paul goes on and he gives them an entire list of things to get rid of. And some of them are are falsehood, right? So just stop lying and speak truthfully. Sinful anger, stealing, unh wholesome talk, right? Grieving the Holy Spirit, bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, malice. He's saying, "Get rid of all those things and live a life with Christ." And I want to tell you a little story this morning. Um, can I just say this? I think Colorado, we have the coolest license plates in the whole country. I mean, they're so stylish. They have mountains on them. You can pick different colors. Um, and as many of you may know, my wife and I, we moved uh to Colorado from Texas about six months ago. And and we wanted to embrace being on a new team. See what I did there? So, one of the things that we wanted to do is, you know what, we wanted to get rid of caught that one, too. We wanted to get rid of our Texas plates, right? Because that's no longer where we lived. We wanted to fully be involved in and being a part of this state and being a part of this church. So, my wife's a big planner and she was like, "Okay, what do we have to do to to get our Colorado plates?" And one of the things was, you know, we love the environment here, so we needed to get a smok check and an emissions check. And so we went online, did the research, saw we had to do, and we found a place near our house where we could go and get that test done. So the place opens at 8:00 a.m. If it was me, I would have got there at 7:55. But my wife, she likes to be there early, so we got there at 7:30. And I'm glad we got there at 7:30 because there was already a line going out when we got there. So we get in line and, you know, we have all our paperwork ready, everything's set. We're like, "This is going to be easy. We'll get in there, get everything done, and we'll be on our way home. So, we get in line, line's moving, then it's finally our turn to get that check done. So, we hand over the paper. I'm confident. I'm like, man, this card does not do anything wrong. Everything's going to be great. Um, so they kind of call us and and we go into a waiting room and we're just sitting there for a couple minutes and see them take the test and I'm like, "All right, cool. Everything's done." They're riding away. So then they call us over and lady standing by her her desk just typing away and I'm like well she hasn't said anything so everything must be going well right? Um so then I'm she's typing away doing that signs everything prints it and she's like I have some good news and I have some bad news. Good news is you passed one part of the test. Bad news is you failed the second and you're going to have to go back in line and or come back another day and get that test retaken. and we had failed the gas cap inspection. Funny story about the gas cap. A few months ago, my check engine light went on and I took it to AutoZone to get it inspected and they plugged in the computer machine there and everything and and it said, "Oh, well, it might just be your gas cap. So, maybe just buy a new one and put the new one on and you should be good." But mind you, soon as turn the I bought the new cap and soon as I turned the car on, the check engine light was off. So I was like, "Well, I think we're good." So I just put the gas cap in my trunk. So imagine my reaction when this lady says, "Oh yeah, you just need to get a new gas cap and then you'll pass." And then I quickly said, "Oh, babe. Oh, I have a new gas cap in the trunk." and she just looks at me like, "You know that face sometimes husbands we get? I got that face. There were no words spoken, but I understood every single word that was said." Um, so I go in the back, we get back in line, and there's not that many cars, but we're waiting. And as my wife is driving forward, I'm walking around by the car, taking off the old one, putting on the new one, did not lose our space in line, and we finally get to the front. And guess what happened? We passed. So now mind you this. If I would have gotten rid of the old from the very beginning and put on the new, right? Put on the thing that I knew was going to work. Put on the thing that I knew was probably going to not cause me to go back in line and save me so many headaches in the future. But for some reason, I didn't want to let go of the old. Right? Instead of putting a patch on something, I could have taken that off and put the new one on and everything would have been fine, right? And here's the third point I want you to think about is simply do this. Just put on the new team's jersey, right? Just put on this the the new thing that God has for you that God has for me. And in Ephesians 4, it says it so beautifully. It says, "Put on the new self, right? created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And then know what's funny is that Paul says this to a different church in Colossians 3. He says this. So chosen by God for this new life of love. He says, "Dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you." Right? And what Jesus is saying is is man, put on the new that I have for you, right? Put on that new jersey, right? Live like me. Represent me. I'm a big sports fan and particularly I watch a lot of soccer and I've heard a lot of players say this. They say if you play for the badge on the front, they'll remember they'll remember the name on the back. Or think about that for a second. If you play for the badge on the front, they'll remember the name on the back, right? And the badge that you and I have on the front is we represent who Christ is, right? We represent who Jesus is. We represent what he's done in our lives. We represent what he can do for for those of people that that maybe don't know him yet, right? And and I think sometimes we forget that the biggest testimony that we may have, right, is not saying that, hey, look, I got a new jersey. Like, look at my new shirt, right? The testimony that you and I may have is is simply the way that we live. It's simply the way that we walk with Jesus. I want you to think about something this morning. If if putting on that new jersey, right? If representing Christ wherever we are, if it was against the law, why would those around you have enough evidence to convict you? Or are you and I simply just blending in with everybody else? Are blending in with the masses? Are we simply just putting on that new jersey on Sunday morning and and showing something that we have, right? face that we have putting on a facade that everything's okay that that we're following Jesus but the rest of the week that New Jersey it just gets dust in our closets. Right? I've heard so many people tell me, "Man, I just wish and I'm praying that my my entire house would come to know Jesus." Right? Maybe that's the prayer that you have this morning. I know there's people that I'm praying for that that I want them to find. I want them to follow Jesus. But let me tell you this. The best thing that I can do is put on that new jersey, right? That represents who God is and let my life be a testimony of why they should come to know and to find and to follow Jesus. Right? So, I want to tell you, I want to challenge you with that this morning, man. Put on that new jersey that God has for you. Right. Play for the badge that's right here because let me tell you, you know what the name on the back of the jersey says? I just think it says everlasting life. I just think it says a new life in Christ. Right? That's the name on the back.

You know, one thing that I I want to just close with this this morning is is Paul's given us a list of things to do, right? If we're truly going to embrace what it means to be on team Jesus is this is what he's calling us to do is one is man he wants you to speak the truth instead of falsehood right he says speak the truth for we are members of one another but the list goes on he says our anger needs to be controlled and it doesn't have to be explosive it can't be harbored it says be angry and do not sin do not do not let the sun go down on your anger. But then he says he wants us to be honest and productive, right? He wants us to be to give people just love with our words, right? He wants us to have edifying speech. He wants us to to not grieve the Holy Spirit. And the last thing is he wants us to replace our bitterness with kindness. Have you ever heard that saying, loving people to death? And that can be really hard to do, right? But that's what God has called us to do, right? Because we are his direct representatives. We're his ambassadors here. We're the ones representing team Jesus when we're surrounded by team world, right? The people that that are that don't know who God is, those who are living for the world, right? But we've been called to be his hands and feet wherever we are. And maybe you're asking yourself this morning, well, how do I even do all of those things? And it's pretty simple. I'm going to list a couple things to you is one is simply just read the Bible, right? Be in his word, right? Immerse yourself in scripture. Let me tell you, the word of God, it's it's our playbook, right? It tells us what to do. It tells us the place. It tells us where to go. It tells us how to live, right? And here's the thing. We've I feel like we've made it we have direct access to it. If you want to go on our website, every week we've been posting up devotionals, so you can follow those along. Those will give you just great insight on what it what we've been talking about and just getting in that habit of of being in the word of God. The second thing is simply just talk to Jesus, right? Cultivate a relationship with God. Or let me tell you, if if you're dating someone, right? If you never talk, you're never going to go anywhere, right? You're never going to get to know that person. They're never going to get to know you. But let me tell you, Jesus, he he simply wants you to have a conversation with him. Right? How many times do we get people saying, "Well, you know what? I don't I don't know how to pray. I don't know the correct words to say, or maybe I don't sound as pretty as you do, or but it's simply just having a conversation with him because he's listening." And the third thing is is surround yourself with the right people. Right? As the saying goes, show me who your friends are, right? And I'll tell you who who you are. When we surround oursel with people that are also following after God, that are living for him, that have left, right, that have gotten rid of the old and they're putting on the new, right? That's the people we want to encounter ourselves with, those who are going to challenge us. And let me just tell you this, right? We've been talking this morning about this church in Ephesus and they're brand new believers. So in in sports terms, they're what we would call just, you know, they're rookies. It's their first year in the league. They don't know what it means to to have longevity, right? And I think it's the same way sometimes in our church. We have people in this room right now that are probably follow Jesus longer than I've been born alive. Like, right? Maybe you've been following God for 10, 20, 30, 40 years. But let me tell you something. It is your responsibility to guide those that are new in the faith. Because here's one thing I believe. Disciples make disciples. And if we're not doing that, then let me just be honest with you, then we're just a social club, right? If we're not believers, if we're not a church that is constantly going out and seeking those who are lost. I don't know, but if you look around, there's plenty of room for us to invite people to know who God is, right? That's what we've been called to do above all else is surrounding ourselves with him, with people that that are that are following him, but also going after those who are not in this room yet. And I want to close with this. You know, God has called us to put on the new and put off the old. But that doesn't happen if he doesn't come down from glory, right? And take off that glory and give his life for us, right? That doesn't happen if he doesn't go to the cross. But all God wants you and I to do is open our hearts to him and kind of like the song we just sang and make room for him to do that.